Gifting this misery world with Blessing
by Hero600
Summary: Kazuma wakes up in a strange place, a goddess offers him the chance to live an adventure in a game like fantasy world, but things do not exactly go as he imagined.
1. chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

He opened his eyes and looked around, he saw nothing but a tiled floor that extened for what seemed like infinity in a void, he heard the voice of woman behind him speaking:

"Satou Kazuma san, welcome to the after life"

He looked towards the sound, and saw a beautiful young woman with sky blue eyes and hair, she was wearing white and dark blue garment.

She walked past him and sat on a luxurious chair in front of him. somehow, he failed to notice the existence of that chair before. The woman spoke again:

"I am Aqua, the water goddess worshipped by the axis sect... your life was short, but you are indeed……dead"

His thoughts were all over the place, he tried to remember what happened before he came here, he recalled leaving his room for the first time in forever to buy a limited edition game. on his way back he saw a girl crossing the street unaware of the vehicle approaching her. He rushed and pushed her out of harms way, and that was his last memory. he still couldn't remember how he died, so he decided to ask the goddess in front of him:

"how did I die exactly?"

The goddess went awkwardly silent for a few moments, then she started laughing loudly:

"it was helarious, you died of shock after you thought the traktor ran you over, you wet yourself and looked so dumb that even the medics who arrived at the scene laughed at you. The doctors in the hospital laughed at you when they heard about your death, and right now your family is.."

"stooooop stop stop stop, plase stop, I don't want to hear anymore of that"

The godess gradually stopped laughing:

"I've been doing this for a long time, but this is the first time I hear about a death so helarious…But anyway, now that I have vented my stress, let's get down to business"

 _Damn her….._

"from here, people usually get 2 choices: either go to heaven, or be reincarnated as a baby to live once more. But let me tell you, heaven is not the dreamy place you think it is, all you can do there is stare at nothingness, and starting again from square 1 isn't fun right? So I have a deal for you, a certain world has come under attack by a demon king and his army, so its inhabitants are refusing to be reborn there, so we thought we could send people from other worlds there with their memories and bodies intact, and have them defeat the demon king. What do you think? It is just like the games NEETs like you play"

"wait wait, I died outside of my room, that proves that I am not a NEET….also, if someone like me who had a peaceful life was sent there, they would just die...right?"

"we thought of this, and so, to raise your chances of survival and defeating the demon king, you will be granted the right to bring any one thing with you, it can be a strong weapon, or a special skill..not a bad deal, right? "

The goddess brought a number of cards, each representing a skill or a weapon, and presented them to Kazuma:

"here you go, choose one, and let your adventure begin"

…. After some time had passed….

The goddess was sitting on her chair, staring at Kazuma who had scattered the cards all over the floor and was comparing them, she said with a bored tone:

"come on just pick one already, it isn't like anyone expects anything from a NEET like you. hurry up, I have business to attend to"

 _This little….Damn her, getting cocky just because she is somewhat cute, I'll show her_

"I can bring any one thing with me?"

"that's right"

Kazuma pointed at her and said:

"then, I choose to bring you"

The goddess stared at him for a while, then stood up and walked towards him while saying:

"alright, now stand still so that I can…..wait what?"

"I choose you as the THING I bring with me, you will use your godly powers to make my life in the new world as comfortable as possible"

Before the goddess could reply, a light appeared out of nowhere, it became a circle and from it descended a woman with feathery wings:

"Satou Kazuma san, your wish has been heard and approved. Aqua sama, I shall take over your job until you defeat the demon king, now please stand still and don't leave the magic circle"

Looking down, kazuma saw a magic circle with a dim blue light underneath him surrounding both him and the goddess Aqua, he looked at the dumbfounded Aqua who took a while before comprehending what just happened, the change of her expressions indicated that she finally caught up, and she started speaking:

"no no no, wait a moment, this is not right, to bring a goddess with you must be against some laws, and even if it isn't, I can't fight a demon, a goddess like me should not engage in such violence! "

The circle underneath her started shining

"nooo wait wait, noooo , I don't want to be sent to that world with this NEET, this should not happen"

The circle was not showing any sign of stopping its function, Aqua started to panic, and tried to dispel the teleportation magic:

"break spell….break spell………. BREAK SPELL…..SACRED BREAK SPELL"

The winged goddess looked a bit worried:

"Aqua sama, please stop before you disturb the teleportation and…"

It was too late, the circle suddenly changed color to purple and started to shine too bright, forcing the winged goddess to look away, and with a loud sound, it exploded….when she looked back at the place where the circle was, the winged goddess could not see it, nor the human or the goddess it was supposed to teleport.

"this can't be good" she said with a worried tone.

Kazuma opened his eyes once more, the shining light of the magic circle had disappeared, and he found himself standing on a grassy plain in front of a gate and a huge wall, several figures were standing near the gate, holding spears, they must be the guards.

Passing through the gate was a carriage dragged by a horse. its driver was a young boy with blond hair that covered most of his face. Surrounding the carriage were 6 people: one leading the group, he had a sword and a shield, to his sides were 2 people with leather armor, one of those two had a bow on his back, behind the carriage were 3 people: one looked really young and carried some sort of a staff, the next person was an extremely beautiful woman in plain clothes. Kazuma kept staring at that woman until he noticed the last person staring at him, he was huge and wore dark armor that covered his entire body, the woman noticed that her companion was looking at something, looked back and saw kazuma, her eyes met his, they were filled with disgust, then she went near the armored man and whispered something, they seemed to have a short conversation, and then the woman bowed.

With that, the attention the group had given kazuma ended. Kazuma kept staring at them as they went further and further ahead.

 _Spears? Armor?horses? This is indeed a new world_

"goodbye NEET life, hello my new adven…ture???"

The spearmen were running towards him with their spears ready. Kazuma felt that they were not coming to welcome him, he felt slightly afraid of what might happen, and looked at the goddess beside him, who had not done anything at all so far:

"oi goddess, do you know why these people are running towards us? Did I do something wrong?"

The goddess didn't respond, her eyes didn't even blink, he felt something was wrong..other than the approaching Spearmen

"did something wrong happen?goddess ? Oi goddess ? What should we do? Goddess ?"

"not familiar….." the goddess said with a half muted voice

"what?"

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE STRANGERS, NO SUDDEN MOVES"

The loud warning interrupted the goddess, she and kazuma looked at the speaker, he was one of the spearmen:

"why did you come here? and how did you appear here out of the blue? Were you using invisibility magic? Are you magic casters? spys from the empire??"

The questions kept coming at kazuma who did not know how to respond, and faced with the threat of the spears, all he could do was raise his hands in surrender and shout:

"no no no, please don't kill me, I surrender, I SURRENDER"

The guards shifted their gaze to the woman with blue hair, she looked at them with a dumb expression, she still had not figured out that they saw her as a threat. Thanks to his experience with her – despite it being extremely short- kazuma knew that, and he said:

"she won't fight either, right goddess ? you won't do something as dangerous as fighting men with weapons, right?"

Aqua looked like she finally understood the situation, yet, her reply was not what Kazuma had hoped for:

"are you an idiot? A majestic goddess like me does not do such barbaric acts like fighting, of course I won't fight"

Still, the guards looked a litte bit relieved, but their leader ordered:

"don't let your guard down just yet, stay alert….you, check them for any hidden weapons and then tie there hands"

"yes sir"

The guard approached the 2 strangers, he went for the young man first, but an unexplainable worried look soon appeared on his face as his hand slowly approached the stranger, the leader noticed that and asked:

"what's wrong?"

"it's nothing sir, just that the clothes this man is wearing are made from a material I have never seen before, I fear it might be enchanted with some weird magic"

"hmmm, now that you say it, indeed, this is definitely the first time I see such a thing" the leader replied, and then he directed his talk to kazuma "what kind of clothes is that?"

Kazuma hurriedly answered " a tracksuit, i swear it is not dangerous, so please stop pointing your spears at me, I am a fragile man and one stab could ruin me, in fact here, I'll take the jacket off, go ahead and verify it isn't dangerous"

With that, kazuma unzipped his jacket and took it off, and then handed it to the guard who treated it like he would treat a snake. After flipping it around for some time, the guard was convinced that the weird clothes will not harm him, and then finished checking kazuma for weapons and tied his hands. Then he went for Aqua, who immediately protested:

"What do you think you're doing? trying to touch a pure goddess like me with such lust filling your eyes??"

Hearing the random protest , the guard had a confused look on his face:

"goddess ? Lust? What the hell are you talking about??"

"indeed I am a goddess, and you are being rude to me, for that you shall get divine retribution"

Kazuma saw suspicion slowly appearing on the faces of the guards,so he quickly interrupted:

"please forgive her, she is just a proud idiot." then he looked at aqua "you self-proclaimed goddess , please stop this and let the gentlemen here do their job"

"wha… How dare you, you NEET! "

"Just shut up and cooperate , in fact If you do not, I will help them restrain you"

Aqua had a shocked expression… but she seemed to have accepted defeat, and the guard was finally able to search her.

After that, the guards led both Aqua and kazuma to the prison, the entire time Aqua kept blabbering about changing the water the guards drink to toilet water, but they simply ignored her.

Now sitting in the cell next to Aqua's cell, kazuma was starting to get depressed:

"an adventure in a new world? This is not what I agreed on! you false goddess, this is false advertisement, send me back, send me back home!"

Aqua looked at him with a mixture of defeat and anger in her eyes:

"who are you calling a false goddess you shut in NEET? And do you think I would have stayed in this world for one second if I could get back??"

"what do you mean by that?"

"I lost most of my divine powers when I was sent here, and now I am stuck!"

"then what do we do?? I am only a normal human, and if what you said is true, you are now a useless goddess, we have no hope of defeating the demon king"

"this is not the problem you stupid NEET"

"Hey hey, don't call me a NEET……...what did you mean by that just now?"

"isn't it obvious? This is not the world you were supposed to go to, there is no demon king here for us to defeat and go home. in fact this world is totally new to me, and most likely the other gods don't know about it. so they can't send someone to take me back"

With that declaration, the goddess started to cry and shout at kazuma with a panicked voice:

"this is all your fault, how am I supposed to go back to the heavenly realm now? A goddess like me should not live with NEETs like you…what do I do..what do I do?"

Listening to the goddess whaling, kazuma understood the situation he was in

"I am so screwed"


	2. chapter 2

**message from author :**

 **first and foremost, i would like to thank everyone who took the time to read the first chapter.**

 **now i have a confession to make: this was nothing more than an idea that came to me, and i had to get it out of my system. of course, i considered to possibility of continuing the story, but i had nothing in mind other than Aqua messing up the teleportation.**

 **i expected alot of criticism, but the reviews were all positive (except for telling me i suck at typing... i know that already), even shalltear sama, who criticized every single fanfic i read, had something good to say, so i decided to continue the story, but god oh god am i afraid of messing it up.**

 **i use my phone, but i promise i will pay more attention to typos, and i will update old chapters with corrections. but to those of you who mentioned grammar issues, i went over the first chapter multiple times and found nothing... so feel free to pm me with examples.**

 **with that said, let's get this show on the road.**

 **chapter 2**

 **at the gates of E-Rantel**

having accepted the out of the blue personal request, Ainz was now leaving the fortress city of E-Rantel with the swords of darkness and the young client. he still had his suspicions, but he decided to wait and see how things unfold for now.

after exiting the gates of the outer walls, they were greeted with the sight of the open plains that extended for a long distance. this city was in the middle of an open field, and while that had its drawbacks, it meant that attackers would be spotted long before they reached the walls. it was impossible for anyone to sneak his way to the city without being noticed, so when 2 people appeared on the plains out of nowhere, Ainz was surprised for a moment

 _were they using invisibility magic? impossible, i am pretty sure i can see through such magic. did they use a new type of magic? or the much worse possibility of magic that is higher than tier 10? or perhaps i am just panicking and they just teleported here... whichever one it is, it requires magic that is higher than tier 3, which is what the normal humans of this world could reach_ if the people from the slane theocracy were correct...

Ainz kept staring at the pair of people that appeared for while. he was lost in his thoughts, until Narberal went near him and asked:

"A.. Momon san, is something the matter? does the existence the two people over there displease you? should i go dispose of them?"

"how did you even reach that conclusion? why would i.. argh, forget it, just make sure you remember their appearance. depending on the circumstances, we might need to establish contact with them, but for now, we need to finish the job we accepted"

"understood" said Narberal with a bow

 _oh come on, how many times do i need to tell her not to bow?_...

 **3 days later, in** **the office of the commander** **E-Rantel's guards**

"...so, where do we stand regarding the two suspected spys? did you get any information from them?"

"the information we got from interrogating them wasn't useful. apart from the woman making a fuss about rude treatment, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary"

"do we at least know why they came here?"

"the man said he came here to become an adventurer and defeat a demon king"

"seriously? he couldn't come up with a better lie? everyone knows the demon gods were defeated by the 13 heroes 200 years ago"

"what shall we do with them sir?"

"hmmmm, leaving them in the prison will not get us anywhere... we will release them and keep them under surveillance, if they are spys they will eventually try to contact their leaders, or other way around, someone might try to reach them if they don't hear back from them for long enough. if that happens, we will lure them into a false sense of safety until they expose enough information"

"we're gonna release them?!"

"yes, they claim the came here to become adventurers, right? well then, escort them to the adventurer's guild for registration, and then bring them to my office, i would like to talk to them personally"...

... on the way to the Adventurer's guild...

despite being released, kazuma was still depressed. spending the first 3 days of his new life in prison was the last thing he expected. his gaze was fixed on the ground instead of looking forward, because of that, he failed to notice the obvious crowd ahead of him. demotivated, he started slowing down.

the guard gave him a slight push and said:

"keep walking, trying to stall for a chance to run away will make things worse for you"

"i won't run" replied kazuma, almost crying

they reached the guild.

"now go and register yourselves as adventurers and come back to me, the commander was generous enough to allow giving you a small loans of one mill..10 silver coins to cover the registration fee. i warn you again, no running away"

 _i get it already, stop rubbing it in.._ "i understand".

kazuma entered the guild with Aqua, the first to get his attention was dark armor. the armored man he saw when he first arrived seemed to be doing nothing in particular, but the moment he looked at Kazuma, Kazuma felt a chill run through his spine. the gaze of the armored man seemed to be glued on kazuma, then a woman started adressing him:

"Momon san...Momon san... Momon san.."

"ahh, yes?"

"the drawing of the wise king of the forst is now ready, and its registration is complete"

"thank you"

with that, Momon took a paper from the receptionist, shot one final look towards Kazuma, and left the guild.

 _momon huh... is it me, or did he stare at me for longer than normal? i hope he is not looking at me in THAT way..._

Kazuma turned to Aqua, she had her nose closed with one hand while waving the other in front of her face

"what are you doing?"

"i don't know why, but the air in this place is unpleasant"

"what are you talking about? anyway, come, follow me"

Kazuma led Aqua to the receptionist

"welcome to the adventurer's guild of E-Rantel, how may i help you?"

"we would like to become adventurers"

the receptionist looked at him with a little bit of disbelief:

"you... want to become adventurers?"

"yes"

"huh, ahem, then you need to pay the registration fee and fill in those forms. do you need help with that?"

"yes please."

"ok then, i will need your name"

"Satou Kazuma"

"ok then, Satou Kazuma san, what kind of speciality do you have?"

"eh??"

"i mean, are you a ranger? a thief? a magic caster?"

Aqua interjected, she straightened her back and said with a surprisingly joyful tone, ignoring Kazuma's stare:

"i am Aqua, the goddesses of water, i am the best user of water related spells as well as healing magic"

"an elementalist and divine magic caster? that's pretty impressive. but still, i would like to ask you to refrain from referring to yourself as the goddess of water. i understand your enthusiasm, but many people could find your claims offensive."

"eh? But.."

before Aqua could continue her protest, Kazuma interrupted her:

"understood ma'am, she won't do it again."

"good, how about you Kazuma san? what kind of job do you have?"

kazuma went silent.

"Kazuma san?"

"ahh yes, about that. you could say i am starting fresh, so i haven't decided yet"

"then could you please let me know what kind of skills you have? can you use magic?" kazuma shook his head "then, are you skilled with the sword?" she got the same reaction "what about sensory and stealth skills?" the answer didn't change...

after going through many possibilities, the receptionist seemed to have given up:

"i don't know how to say this, but according to your answers, the only thing you could do is become a porter, dealing with the luggage of adventurer groups going on long quests"

"haaa? no no no, there must be something i can do. if not now, then after i spend some time training... i need to prove i wasn't lying, i need to become an adventurer!"

kazuma was now begging.

"so you still want to complete the registration?"

"yes"

with a sigh, the receptionist completed the paperwork, and gave the pair in front of her their copper adventurer tags, she then explained the rules and regulations of the adventurer's guild, and finished her talk by adressing Aqua:

"Aqua san, as a magic caster, you will need to be registered at the magic caster guild, and since you can use divine magic, you need permission from the temple to heal people, and please, try to avoid the goddess issue when you go there, you could get into a lot of trouble"

the reply came with a low, demotivated voice :"i understand" .

after that, the pair left the guild, they found the guard waiting for them. after apologizing for taking long, they followed him to the office of the commander. Kazuma was expecting another interrogation when he arrived there, but to his surprise, the commander started by welcoming them:

"welcome, you two, i see you did indeed join the adventurer's guild"

"did you think we were lying?"

"no no, it's not that. to be honest, you just don't look like someone who could make a living from killing monsters"

everything is now over, once they leave this office they will find somewhere to sleep, and tomorrow they will take the easiest job they could find, so there is no harm in bluffing to get some of his shattered dignity back. those were kazuma's thoughts, he was pleased with this conclusion, and replied with an arrogant tone:

"oh yeah? well give me a sword and i'll show you how wrong you are... i might not look like it, but i am very strong"

suddenly, the door was slammed open, a guard rushes inside :

"sorry for interrupting, but i have an urgent report"

the commander nodded to the guard who was panting in front of him to continue.

"the guards stationed at the gates of the cemetery reported an army of undead. they did not have an accurate estimate, but they said there were easily thousands of undead, they already reached the gates were the surviving guards are fighting to hold them back. most of the adventurers and guards who were patrolling the cemetery are dead."

"thousands? that's... if that army breaks loose, E-Rantel will be destroyed! send all guards to defend the gates immediately, and contact the adventurer's guild and have them announce an emergency, all available adventurer teams must take part in defending the city" the commander went silent for a moment, and then he added "if possible, i would like for one or two capable adventurer teams to wait at the gate, now go"

"understood". the guard Saluted and left the office.

the commander looked at the young man in front of him:

"well then, it seems you will get a chance to prove me wrong sooner than expected"

Kazuma's face went pale


	3. chapter 3

**You wann be like that? FINE!**

 **If it is capitalization and punctuation you want,** **then it is capitalization and punctuation that you'll get!**

 **Let's see what you beautiful people come up with next.**

 **Chapter 3:**

 **Adventurer's guild:**

Ainz was waiting for the employees to finish the registration of his new pet, Hamsuke.

 _I hope they bought it_...

To avoid additional costs, he requested a hand-drawn picture of instead of one produced with magic. He said it was because he appreciates good art.

 _W_ _hat would they say if they didn't believe me? it will stain the name i want to create before it is even created._

While Ainz was agonizing about his soon to be ruined reputation, 2 young people walked into the guild. Ainz recognized them immediately.

 _Those are the same people i saw when i was leaving the city. I am sure they used magic higher than tier 3, but they don't look that strong..._

Then, another thing came to his attention:

 _That guy's clothes do not look like they belong to this world; they are definitely made of synthetic fibers, but i have never seen this exact type of fiber. Could it be a cosmetic item that i missed? but that would mean that he is a player. If that's the case, then i will have to get him and his friend on my side..._.

"Momon san...Momon san... Momon san.."

"Ahh, yes?"

"The drawing of the wise king of the forst is now ready, and its registration is complete."

"Thank you."

Ainz walked to the employee, she gave him the registration. Then he went to the exit, but before he left, he took one final look at the potential player.

 _Please don't be someone who got PKed by us._

With that, he left.

 **On the way to the cemetery:**

"I'm telling you, giving me this sword is a waste of resources. You should give it to someone else, that would be a better decision and you will get better results."

Kazuma was hopelessly trying to convince the guards around him. One of the guards replied without even looking at him:

"The commander was very confident in your usefulness. We trust you to do well because he trusts you."

"No no no, he is making a big mistake. I am a spy, and i need to be taken to prison."

"A spy eh? From which country?"

"The Kingdom. They sent me and Aqua to spy on you. If you do not take us back to our prison cells, your Empire will be in grave danger!"

"After hearing you say that, I can definitely imagine columns of fire rising within the royal capital, all because we did not put you in prison."

"Hey now, you don't have to mock my words like that..."

After a little bit of silence, Kazuma spoke again:

"Why would the Empire have a royal capital anyway? That doesn't make sense! shouldn't it be an imperial capital?"

"Maybe that's because we are in the Kingdom you claim to have sent you as its spy."

"oh..."

"Fuahahahahahahaha"

The one laughing at Kazuma's failed attempt was Aqua, her laughter filled the quiet darkness surrounding the group.

"Ahahaha, Kazuma is so dumb, he can't even tell where he is."

 _As if you are any better! you were crying just 2 days ago because you did not know where we were._

"You are the last person I want to hear that from. Besides, i was just trying to avoid the fight ahead of us. you should be praising my efforts."

"Why would I? Do you think a high ranking goddess like me is afraid of a bunch of undead? On the contrary, it is that undead army's bad luck that I am here!"

 _what happened to 'a goddess should not engage in violence' ?_

"Oh really? We'll see then. Don't come to me crying and asking for help when the undead surround you."

"Now that's the spirit."

"Why thank you" Aqua replied to the guard cheering her, totally ignoring Kazuma's words.

At the gates of the cemetery, they saw more guards and a group of people with mix and match equipment. They were 2 silver ranked adventurer teams who responded to the commander's request. Looking at Kazuma and Aqua, one of the adventurers spoke:

"So, can i assume you are the reason we are waiting here instead of making money?"

One of the guards replied:

"Ah, yes. The commander requested that these two be accompanied by capable adventurers who can protect them and evaluate their combat abilities."

"Are you serious? Does your commander think we work for him? instead of going to do our job and earn our living, we were kept outside. And for what? To go fight while babysitting two rookies? This is unacceptable!"

"The commander realises this. He asks you to consider this an official request. He said he will arrange a reward with the guild if you choose to accept it."

The adventurer who was raging before calmed down. One of his group spoke:

"If that's how it is, then be it."

The first adventurer added:

"But if they get in the way and prevent us from doing our job properly, you will be paying extra."

A third adventurer said:

"Our team has no problem with that either."

The guard nodded in satisfaction, he turned to Kazuma and said:

"Well then spy san, you will go with these gentlemen and help them with their attempt to reach the source of this catastrophe."

"Why would we do such a stupid thing? If the undead army is inside, then all you need to do is close the gates and the problem is solved! In fact why are we involved in this? why didn't you call the army or something?"

"Kazuma san, we are the army, and we can not let the undead gather in one place because that will cause stronger undead to appear. Anyway, when you're done, report back to the guild. They will give you the names of suitable places to sleep, and tomorrow wait for an escort at the guild. understood?"

" yes" came a single reply from Kazuma.

The guard looked at Aqua, she seemed to consider the previous conversation irrelevant to her. He asked once more:

"Is everything clear? "

"Oh, you were talking to me? Yes, of course."

"Good. Then, good luck."

The 3 adventurer groups entered the cemetery. They were 11 people in total. Including Aqua, they had 3 magic casters. Their immediate surroundings were empty, the adventurers who went before them must have cleared the area. The 2 leaders discussed potential tactics while the rest were listening. After some time, everyone knew what their role was. The lack of enemies gave them time to prepare a good battle plan, but it meant that they were missing out on the action, and that meant no rewards. The short-tempered adventurer spoke:

"Oh fantastic, we are left playing catch up instead of leading the charge because of you two."

Kazuma wanted to reply, but Aqua spoke first:

"Hey watch your tone. You should be honored to be in the presence of a lovely goddess like me."

"A goddess you say? and does a goddess need guards watching her every move? what kind of idiots do you think we are to believe such an absurd claim?"

"WHY YOU! you will get divine retribution for that!"

Another adventurer interrupted:

"Hey be quiet, we are already at a disadvantage when it comes to spotting the undead. we don't need to give them more ways to find us before we find them."

"But..."

Kazuma instantly replied before Aqua could even finish her protest:

"No buts. How may times are you going to have the same exact conversation? you goldfish."

"Thank you"

"That was not a compliment you idiot!"

"But goldfish are beautiful. How is that not a compliment?"

Their conversation ended when they spotted the first undead. It was a skeleton, heading straight towards them followed by more of its kind.

"Alright, we have about a dozen skeletons approaching us. It should be easy, but do not be too reckless, other undead could be lurking around."

"Roger."

With that, the adventurers engaged the skeletons in battle. they had a simple double layered spread where those with melee weapons formed an arc while the 3 magic casters were behind.

Kazuma was supposed to be on the flank, which kept him away from dealing with the main force of the approaching undead. His legs were shaking and he suspected that they were going to betray him sooner than later. a Skeleton approached him.

 _Oh my God this is a real skeleton...this is not the same as playing a game! it is so terrifying... please go attack someone else._

ignoring Kazuma's silent pleads, the skeleton kept advancing. it raised the sword in its fleshless hand and sent it down with a strike aimed at Kazuma. Kazuma reflexively raised his sword in front of him and with his eyes closed, his face facing the other way and an incomprehensible scream, he blocked the first attack. He almost lost his balance, but that didn't matter! All he cared about was the fact that he survived the first blow. The lack of muscles in the low tier skeleton Kazuma was fighting meant that it lacked the strength and mass to overmatch Kazuma, and from his perspective, the skeleton looked like something he could survive a fight with. That filles him with confidence.

That confidence soon evaporated when he saw the skeletal arm already in the air preparing for the second strike. once more, Kazuma threw his sword with his eyes closed in the general direction of the skeleton's attack. This time, the sword was knocked out of his hand and went flying to his side, away from his group.

 _Crap, i already have to pay back the loan for the registration fee. i can't afford to have the price of that sword added to my debts_.

Somehow, the fear of having his debts grow overcame his fear of the skeleton trying to kill him. Kazuma ran after his sword ignoring everything else. He picked it up and turned expecting to see his fleshless enemy coming at him with another attack. But to his surprise, that skeleteon seemed to have forgotten about him and was now going to attack the magic casters. Kazuma tried to warn Aqua, who was the closest to the skeleton.

"Aqua watch out!"

"Turn undead."

"Haah?"

The skeleton crumbled in an instant, Kazuma was shocked.

"was that you? were you the one who killed it?"

"Of course. I guess a shut-in like you can not recognize the magic of a goddess even when he sees it."

Kazuma was speechless. he did not expect the girl in front of him to be of any use, but as things were now, she was performing way better than him. In fact, she was probably doing better than the rest of the group. Kazuma's gaze dropped to the ground.

 _Even That idiot is doing better than me. This is definitely not the heroic life i was promised._

"Is everyone alright?" asked one of the adventurers. everyone replied positively.

"It seems that's the last of them. well done everyone."

Sniff sniff...

Aqua awkwardly sniffing the air:

"There are more coming...A LOT more".

 **I am going to continue the next chapter immediately. I decided to publish this as a separate chapter to maintain a size that is easy to finish in 1 go. please let me know if the current size is convenient.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

Aqua's words were quickly proven to be true. The group barely had any time to get back into formation before the undead arrived. This herd of undead was more than 3 times bigger than the last one, and there were zombies between its skeletons. The situation did not look good, and the experienced adventurers realized that:

"There are too many of them, we won't be able to hold them back if we fight all of them at the same time."

"They already know we're here, so it will be hard to avoid a fight with them. However, we can lure them back to the area that has already been cleared. That way we can at least make sure we won't have anymore of those things attacking us. We'll retreat slowly while holding them back. Magic casters, forget about conserving mana, use everything you've got."

With that, the adventurers started to slowly retreat in formation. The undead were slow, the zombies being slower than the rest. This meant that all they had to deal with was the occasional skeleton that went ahead of the rest of its group. They couldn't land any decisive hits, but it was betted than facing the entire herd approaching them at once.

Kazuma was already freaking out, waving his sword left and right to keep the undead at bay. Dealing with one skeleton was enough bad memories to last him the entire month, and he could hear Aqua's voice behind him starting to give hints of fear as she cast her magic as fast as she could. But when sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions. Kazuma made the mistake of looking to his right,what he saw shattered all the hope he had left of surviving. Another herd of undead was approaching them from the side, and shouts came from the adventurer on the opposite flank warning about undead approaching from there as well. Things quickly took a turn for the worse when the new herds arrived. The adventurers were quickly overwhelmed. Kazuma was watching things unfold from a new point of view... his legs had finally given up and he was now sitting on the ground watching the undead walk past him. An adventurer announced the obvious :

"We are done for... Run, run... and don't stop until you reach the gates!"

With that, the group crumbled as the adventurers upfront gave up and started running away. That meant that the magic casters were now face to face with the undead. Aqua's screams as she ran away brought Kazuma back to his senses. He tried to stand up and go after her, but a zombie tripped over him. The zombie seemed to have been focused on another target until he fell over Kazuma. On his end, Kazuma did not need any more motivation than the sight of the zombie's face directly in front of his.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"

It was a loud, long and feminine scream filled with horror. Kazuma was scarred for life after seeing the zombie's face up close and personal. He pushed it away from him and started running in the direction he saw Aqua run towards. Kazuma kept running, taking a look behind him every now and then. The undead seemed to have picked him as their target, most of the undead were after him, or that's how he felt at least. Kazuma bumped into something while looking back. It was a tree, and it was shaking because of the bump, threatening to fall to the ground altogether. Then Aqua's voice came from above:

"What do you think you're doing? I almost fell because of you!"

She somehow managed to climb all the way to the top, and was now hugging a branch to avoid falling. Kazuma did not have any second thoughts, he started climbing.

"What are you doing? Go find your own tree."

"Shut up you useless goddess, and come help me climb up."

"You stupid NEET, you brought the undead with you!"

The undead were approaching the tree with no other apperant target other than Kazuma and Aqua. Aqua started throwing her magic left and right while Kazuma struggled to climb

"Come on arms...work! Aquaaaa, come help me up."

"Turn undead... stop screaming.. turn undead.. you fool.. turn undead... they are following... turn undead.. your screams."

"I promise I will stop screaming if you help me up, and I will become a better individual and go the gym."

"And how would that benefit me? turn undead."

Kazuma was now hanging to a branch, hugging it with both his arms and resting his chest on it, the rest of his body was hanging below. A skeleton finally reached the tree and grabbed Kazuma's ankle and started pulling him down. Kazuma felt the cold, bony on his skin, he started screaming:

"AQUA SAMAAAAAAAAAAA"

Aqua was slowly regaining her confidence. Being on the top of the tree with Kazuma between her and the undead, she now felt invincible, and start throwing spells like a maniac:

"Ahahaha, come at me you disgusting undead. Who's next?? Turn undead.. turn undead.. turn undead.."

While Kazuma was flailing, trying to kick the stubborn skeleton away, the 2 fleeing adventurer groups started slowing down after they noticed they were no longer being followed.

"Is everyone ok?"

"It seems like it.. Wait, where are the rookies?"

"I saw the girl running with us, but the boy fell to the ground when the undead swarmed us."

"Poor guy, he should have never been forced to join us, it was obvious fighting wasn't for him."

"We don't know the reason behind that. But what we know is that the woman might still be alive. I say we go back and see if she is safe."

"Are you joking? If the undead aren't following us then they will be following her. There is no way she can survive that, and no way that I will go back to fight such a huge number of undead."

"But we accepted the quest to guard the rookies. If we fail without even trying, we will live in shame for the rest of our lives."

"You are exaggerating, and even if it were true, I'll pick a shameful life over any kind of death."

After some time of going back and forth, both teams agreed on going back to see what happened. If Aqua was still alive, they would help her if the could. Otherwise, they will accept failure and leave the cemetery. The group started to slowly advance, ready to run at the first sight of that small undead army.

"What do you think will happen now? If the undead are present in such huge numbers in the entire cemetery, this city is done for!"

"While we were waiting, I heard a guard from another gate talk about a dark warrior. Apperantly he was the first adventurer to enter the cemetery, and he cleared a huge amount of undead within minutes of him entering. I hope he manages to find the source of this phenomenon and stop it."

"A dark warrior? I don't recall E-Rantel having any strong adventurer that could be described as one."

"Hmmm, I saw someone in dark full plate armor register in the guild the other day, maybe it was him?"

"Oh, you mean the rich brat who had that beautiful woman with him? There's no way that's him. They are copper plates after all!"

"But what if... What the... Look over there!"

The adventurers looked at where their colleague was pointing, they saw 2 people on a tree surrounded by the undead. Spells were flying everywhere from the tree, and with each spell, one of the undead perished.

" No way! They are both alive!"

" Well then we will need to help them... let's go."

Kazuma was getting tired, he stopped screaming for help a while ago. Aqua gave his screams no attention. She looked like she was enjoying herself, she was starting to strike poses with each new spell she cast.

 _If we survive this, I swear I will tie her up and feed her to the undead! No mercy!_

"You stupid goddess, help me get rid of this skeleton!"

"Fuhuhu, That is not how you're supposed to talk to a majestic goddess like me. If you want my help, you will promise to treat me like the goddess that I am."

"Whatever, just do something!"

Kazuma looked down, it seemed that the only a few undead were left, he looked back at Aqua who was now standing on top of the tree with her hands on her hips in a victory pose.

"That's right you stupid undead, this was your unlucky day! You shall repent for abandoning the teachings of the gods!"

In the sky above the deepest parts of the cemetery, a bright light appeared. The light shone brighter, turned into a line connecting the sky with the earth, and suddenly disappeared. Kazuma was distracted by that light for a couple seconds, but that was enough for another skeleton to grab Kazuma. With two skeletons pulling him, Kazuma's arms could not keep up. He fell and rolled on the ground, and as it was now, the skeletons were between him and his beloved tree. Aqua was still proudly standing on the tree, she looked down at Kazuma and screamed:

"Heeey, you shut-in NEET, do you accept me as your go...kya"

She did not get to finish her mockery. A pink rope wrapped around her leg and started pulling her. she lost her balance, but instantly hugged the tree. Despite looking like a young human girl, the strength she hugged the tree with was unheard of. She refused to let go, and after a couple seconds, the tree was rooted out of its place and fell to the ground, squashing the skeletons threatening Kazuma in the process.

Normally, an Organ Egg would pull its victims before outsiders could react, but because it had to drag the tree with Aqua, it dragged her at a speed slow enough for the other to react. Kazuma was the closest, but having abandoned his sword way earlier, he went to try to unwrap the intestines around Aqua's leg:

"Hang in there Aqua, don't let go... urgh this is disgusting."

Aqua's screams were incomprehensible, but they didn't last for long. The adventurers finally arrived and cut the intestines pulling Aqua. After dealing with the Organ Egg, they went to check on the sobbing young woman the man panting with his eyes wide open next to her.

 _I thought i was a goner! i thought i was gonna die..._

Kazuma was now visibly shaking, his legs felt weaker than ever before.

"Come Aqua, let's leave this godforsaken cemetery...Aqua?"

"Thank you for helping me Kazuma...sniff...Thank you...sniff... I'm sorry I didn't... sniff... help you when we were on the tree... sniff... I'm sorry I enjoyed watching you scream like... sniff... a little baby... I'm sorry... I'm sorry" Aqua was still crying.

 _So it was on purpose! I should have helped that monster drag her._

"Are you two alright?"

"Yes, she is a little shocked, apart from that we're fine"

"Thank the gods we arrived in time. It would have been a shame for such a talented young magic caster to die."

 _What? what about the handsome young man over here?_

"Yes, She was totally amazing. I never met a magic caster who could deal with that amount of undead!"

Aqua suddenly stopped crying. She lifted her head and looked at the adventurer with eyes filled with joy and expectation:

"Isn't that right? Am I not amazing? Do you believe that i am a goddess now? will you join the Axis cult? They are a pretty lovely bunch."

"That was pretty amazing, but it is still nowhere near the wonders of the gods... and did you say something about a cult?"

Kazuma hurriedly closed Aqua's mouth and tried to laugh it off:

"She is just delusional... Just ignore her."

"Huh."

 **In the cheapest Hotel of E-Rantel:**

After finishing his work in the cemetery. Ainz went back with Narberal to the hotel they first stayed at. Upon entering, Ainz saw a young woman grabbing the manager of the place and shaking him violently:

"I'm telling you we will get our reward tomorrow. we'll pay you then."

"Pay beforehand or leave, i don't have the time to deal with you."

"Urgh you cheap old basterd! who do you think you are! "

"Stop it Aqua, we'll go find somewhere else to spend the night."

"Haaa! If we can not afford a room in this disgusting hotel, where else could we go?"

"Hey if you don't like it here then leave."

"FINE! I won't stay in a hotel that smells like undead!"

Ainz interrupted, adressing Kazuma:

"May I ask what the problem is?"

"Oh, don't bother with us, it's just that we are currently broke."

"Is that so?... Then how about i pay for your lodging for tonight? Of course i want something in return."

Aqua immediately said "We accept" with enthusiasm , but Kazuma pushed her back and looked at the warrior in front of him, waiting to hear his demands. Ainz continued :

"I've seen you a couple times before , and you've piqued my interest. So, in exchange, i would like to have a chat with you."

Once more, Aqua immediately agreed, but this time Kazuma protested :

"No no no, Thank you for the generous offer but i have to refuse."

 _huh! why would he refuse?_

"Why not you coward NEET? We won't find a better opportunity today!"

"If you are so eager to accept why don't you do it?"

 _Do what? Do i look that scary_ _to talk to?_

"How dare you suggest that a goddess like me does something so outrageous? How rude can you be? Besides, he said he wants you. "

Narberal was shaking beside Ainz, and she finally spoke:

"You.. you... you insolent fools! How dare you suggest that Ai.. Momon san has such intentions! you lowly lifeforms!"

 _Suggest what? What is going on? oh..._

Ainz finally realized what was going on, and he hurriedly stopped Narberal, who was now preparing to attack, and corrected himself:

"Wait wait Nabe... don't attack." and then he looked at Kazuma and said: "You got it wrong...ahem... All there is to it is that you have a weird outfit and i was curious to find out where it came from."

Kazuma still looked at Ainz with suspicion, after a while he seemed to be convinced :

"So, all you want for me to tell you about this tracksuit? If that's the case then I accept the offer. We'll be in your care."

"Then, how about we meet tomorrow in the guild?"

"That sounds good."

"Then we have a deal... Nabe, let's go for now."

With that, Ainz paid for 2 rooms, and went to his room with Narberal.

 _I hope paying for the extra room is worth it_... _That's right, i was supposed to contact Albedo. I'll have her send a shadow demon to make sure that guy doesn't run away._

"Message"

[Ainz sama, Shalltear Bloodfallen has revolted against us]

The light in Ainz's empty eye sockets faded.

"Hah?"


End file.
